The Originals finale recap: Who survived 'From A Cradle To A Grave'?

The team behind The Vampire Diaries were always good at season finales, so it's fair to say that I went into this closer of The Originals with some pretty high expectations. Luckily, the show largely managed to live up to them, hitting the emotional beats perfectly (even if the plot twists weren't always as strong).

It's fair to say that the episode was pulling no punches right from the very beginning, mixing up a charming flashback with pregnant Hayley and Klaus (he felt the baby kick and smiled!) with her labor screams and Klaus's inability to save either her or her child. The jarring nature of all this made things disturbing, but thrilling, from the off. It also helps that Klaus was still weakened from Genevieve's tricks; seeing him pinned against the wall and unable to help was a startling change.

I'm not going to lie - I genuinely believed Hayley was gone for a good while, and you'd better believe that I was bloody furious with that awful, awful excuse for a person Monique. I did begin to realize that Hayley would probably stay alive, though, and was eventually proved right, as she was saved by her new baby, still having its creepy hybrid blood in her system. Yes, Hayley was in transition and needed to feed from her own newborn to complete the whole process. Which just made finding the baby - snatched by Genevieve - even more important.

It's always nice when everyone has something to work for, and a rapidly approaching deadline; the baby was only going to be safe until the moon set for the morning sky, conveniently. It made things much more difficult when Elijah and Klaus - both utterly broken, and sobbing over Hayley's presumed death; we have never seen Elijah look more dispirited or downhearted - attempted to save the baby, only to find that the witches had cast their spells to create the illusion of a huge, endless cemetery. It was only when Hayley turned up - surprise! - that her mother's instinct kicked in (well, that or her need to feed), and they could track down the baby, just as she was about to be sacrificed.

Of course, they weren't the only ones on a deadline; Elijah's werewolf bite was solved pretty quickly by Klaus, but he was a lucky one - Josh was worsening by the minute, and Marcel was also beginning to deteriorate. While I was charmed by Davina's attempt to fix the situation - by magicking up and collecting the blood spilt by Klaus during his skirmish with Marcel - it wasn't quite enough to save everyone. Marcel urged her to offer a seriously ill Josh salvation, meaning that he had just one alternative - to make amends with Klaus.

Luckily - as is so often the case with The Originals - there was a last-minute fix. Hayley - looking as badass as she's ever looked, even just after labor - led Elijah and Klaus to the sacrifice, where they swiftly dispatched one of the witches and kidnapped Genevieve. Only Monique was left standing, and she raised the dagger above the baby... only to be undone by a 'Devil Star' Cami had given to Marcel. Marcel obviously stole the baby away so that Klaus would feed him his blood, but the following meeting is actually surprisingly touching. From now on, they'll work together. Just that moment when Marcel handed over the child, and Klaus went all daddy, and Marcel laughed...

Naturally, that isn't everything sorted. For one thing, there was the tricksy question of Genevieve, who was in chains and begging forgiveness (and revealing the ancestor so desperate to have the baby sacrificed, none other than Esther Mikaelson). "I'm sorry," she wept, only for Hayley to stab her in the stomach and reply: "I'm not." I know we shouldn't really be encouraging murderous rages, but I'll take it from Hayley, standing up for her little cub. Mind you, even Elijah looked shocked (or, well, possibly turned on.)

But it's this protective instinct that left Hayley sobbing, as she realized she couldn't keep her daughter safe. While the battle may have been temporarily over, the war certainly wasn't, and Elijah and Klaus were left considering their next move. Make the house a fortress? Klaus doesn't want his daughter to be a prisoner. Leave? Everyone will follow. It's not only Esther, still hoping to kill her granddaughter from the Other Side; Hayley's royalty status in the werewolf world obviously made both her and the baby a target.

It was Hayley's unconditional love for her new baby - something the flashback at the beginning of the episode had made abundantly clear - that stepped in, suggesting that they need to send the baby away. This was a heart-wrenching scene to watch as she tearfully explained that she grew up unloved in a war zone, and does not want that for her own kin. "I think the only thing to do is send her away while we stay behind and clean up the mess that we've made," she said - and what a decision to make. Of course, distance wouldn't make a difference, so the trio are forced to fake the death of the newborn - with the help of Marcel, who terrifies that awful wolf Oliver with a stillborn baby in a box, and then agrees to be compelled to forget the existence of the real child.

But who would take the child and raise it? I knew what was coming, but it was still a thrill to see Rebekah return, taking her role as a new aunt to the next level by agreeing to look after the baby herself. I couldn't help but cry throughout this entire scene, because if there's one thing we know, it's that Rebekah has always yearned for a family ("Perhaps we'll get a white fence," she mused). What's more, Klaus lost it himself, vowing to find his daughter again in the future and crying as he named her Hope. It was a beautifully done scene in so many ways, leaving presumably everybody watching with damp cheeks.

Honestly, my only real issue with this episode is that it didn't end there; instead, we obviously had to have a plot twist. While I quite enjoyed Davina resurrecting MIkael and then tying him to her, so that he would be forced to be a secret weapon locked in the church (you go, Davina), I was less enamoured with the end of the installment, which seemed somewhat forced (and came after the perfect naming of Hope, which would have been a brilliant closing moment). Instead, we saw two people wandering through a cemetery; a man calling the other mother. As she said that to rest in peace would be so boring, and looked down at a grave with 'Esther Mikaelson' on it, it seemed pretty clear that a terrifying witch had returned to wreak havoc...

Yes, in the episode in which Klaus became a father, both of his parents - well, his mother and his step-father - returned to presumably attempt to cause some trouble in New Orleans. That in itself makes me very excited for season two, but more than that, in this episode I was blown away by the emotion of it all. The moments when Klaus and Hayley cradled their baby; the moment when Elijah thought Hayley was dead; the part when Marcel and Klaus resolved their differences. There is something very special about this show.

Bites & Pieces

I know they had to send Hope away, but my goodness, I'm sad we're not going to see Klaus knee-deep in diapers. He seemed like such a sweet daddy.

Klaus bursting in to attempt to save Hayley and just decapitating someone on the way reminded me of how great he is.

Josh survives! Hurrah! (I was so convinced he wouldn't make it through the season.)

I really, honestly did think that Hayley had been murdered at the beginning of this episode - for a good while. And I was so annoyed at that awful Monique. Oh well, she's gone now, and good riddance.

Elijah's rage at Klaus being "bested" ("BESTED!") and his ensuing breakdown, as he said he'd let Hayley in and now Klaus had broken him... perfect. Just so heartbreaking.

Hayley's steely eyes after waking up again - amazing.

... I don't want to cause trouble, but wouldn't the ancestral witches know that Hope was still alive? No?

The battle at the sacrificial altar was brilliant. I know I was all about the emotion this week, but it was a great set piece.

Hayley is a proper mummy wolf. Still love how brutally she dispatched Genevieve.

Ugh, Francesca is the worst. She gave a little press conference about the, uh, gang violence. I'm guessing we'll be seeing quite a lot of her next season, and I am so ready for her to go down.

Oh my God, talking of emotion - Klaus telling Cami that they can't be friends because his "demons" are "hellbent" on killing him and everything he finds beautiful... I am sorry, that is not okay. I couldn't take it. Too sad.

So Hayley is now a hybrid... (she sucked blood from her daughter's finger). Extra power for Hayley - excellent.

"She looks like her mother... maybe there is a God after all." TOO MUCH. And Klaus crying, I just could not take it.